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The European Commission has adopted the EU Action Plan “Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”, one of the most important measures approved within the policies of the European Green Deal. The aim is to provide an integrated vision to bring pollution levels below the danger threshold for human health and the environment by 2050.

To achieve this, the Action Plan identifies key 2030 targets to reduce emissions, particularly thanks to the contribution of digital technologies. These targets include: reducing the impact in human health caused by air pollution by 55%; reducing waste, plastic litter at sea (by 50%) and microplastics released into the environment (by 30%); reducing nutrient losses and chemical pesticides’ use by 50%; reducing by 25% the EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity; reducing the share of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30%, and significantly reducing waste generation and by 50% residual municipal waste.

The Plan outlines several flagship initiatives and actions, including aligning the air quality standards more closely to the latest recommendations of the World Health Organisation, presenting a Scoreboard of EU regions’ green performance to promote zero pollution across regions, and reducing the EU’s external pollution footprint by restricting the export of products and wastes that have harmful, toxic impacts in third countries.

What’s next?

A revision of European legislation is now also planned to fill in the remaining gaps and bring it into line with the objectives of the Action Plan. Various insights into the package of measures are planned during the EU Green Week from 1 to 4 June, with more than six hundred partner events scheduled.

CLEPA will be participating in the Green Week event, during the session planned for 3 June “How will young Europeans #DiscoverEU while polluting less?”, where representatives from the road, railway and aircraft sector will showcase how polluting less is the common challenge, and how they are preparing for this. 

For more information, click here.

Source: European Commission